Stalagmites, Burragalong Cavern

In 1843 Sydney was hit by an economic depression that depleted Conrad Martens of his painting commissions. He used the break in regular work to seek new artistic adventures. Hearing of their ‘discovery’ in 1843, Martens travelled west of the Blue Mountains to paint at Burrangalong Cavern (now known as Abercrombie Caves) near Bathurst in New South Wales.

'Stalagmites, Burragalong Cavern' reflects Martens’ feelings for this spectacular world which he claimed as his ‘romantic abode’. He experimented with a new style, distanced from his well-versed picturesque mode, to describe his encounter with a mysterious geological world and the speculations of infinite time that it aroused. Martens was so taken by the experience that he painted himself and his work in progress on the easel in the composition, declaring the novel occurrence of painting outdoors.